Not Entirely
by Shikijika
Summary: Not being sure of things is a very dangerous state, which means Hitsugaya Toshiro is pretty much screwed. IchigoxHitsugaya, written for a Christmas fic exchange.


Intended fluff written for hyourintenshi, for the fic exchange at the IchiHitsu comm on LiveJournal. If that made any sense.

First 'proper' thing I've really written in a while, hehe...

---

A routine was something familiar and comfortable, and as childish as this reason probably was, Hitsugaya generally kept to his routine. One of the details of this was that he at least _attempted _to sleep at some point in the afternoon -- 'attempted' meaning that it really depended on what day it was, how much effort his vice-captain and seated officers were putting in and what he had set himself to complete that day.

Despite his best efforts, sleeping never seemed to come into his schedule much anymore.

"Hey, Toshiro!"

And when it _did _have a placement (the human world missions did not call for paperwork _quite _as often), he preferred not to be disturbed.

Hitsugaya contemplated pulling the covers over his head and just ignoring Kurosaki, but immediately dismissed it as it would probably involve more effort than was needed. Staying still and ignoring the stupid loud human under the guise of being asleep might be more logical.

"Stop pretending you're sleeping. I'm not stupid, you know."

Clearly, logic did not work with Ichigo Kurosaki.

Hitsugaya sighed and opened his eyes, looking up to glower at Kurosaki, who seemed entirely unfazed by it. He vaguely wondered why he even bothered anymore before he spoke.

"What is it?"

"It's snowing. Just started."

... How anti-climatic (although admittedly he hadn't been expecting anything of interest). "I'm not a child."

Kurosaki just snorted in that incredibly infuriating way of his. "Didn't say you were, did I? C'mon. You're going out."

"No, I'm not," Hitsugaya immediately replied, wondering what on earth this stupid human was thinking. He did not want to go out; he'd much prefer sleeping, thank you very much.

But was that not a childish excuse?

Kurosaki's expression didn't change as he leant against the wall next to Hitsugaya's bed, but the captain could tell that he was rather irritated. Sitting up now, Hitsugaya rested his weight on his hands and regarded the substitute shinigami with a minutely confused stare.

"Yeah you are. Get up and get dressed, or I'll kick your ass to the moon and back, right?"

Hitsugaya... had not quite expected that answer. "Not--"

He was cut off by Kurosaki striding out of the room and closing the door. His scowl deepened; humans could be so... there were not enough synonyms for 'infuriating' to properly express it. He was unusually inarticulate as of late.

Perhaps it had something to do with having stayed in this world for a while. He certainly hadn't expected the Captain-Commander to send him on a solo mission; admittedly they did need to be on guard right after the war, but Karakura had not registered any out-of-control spiritual power and it had generally been quite quiet. Ignoring the human interference by those clearly insane people who kept occupance here.

Hitsugaya wasn't entirely sure why he was actually doing as Kurosaki insisted. Perhaps his curiosity was getting the better of him, or the general idiocy of this world was contagious.

---

"I did _not _agree to the blindfold," Hitsugaya growled, reaching up to the firm knot at the back of his head, fingers hooking into the soft material as he tried to untie it; strong hands immediately caught his wrists in a firm grip and he made a noise of exasperation. Why was this gigai so ridiculously feeble?

"That'll ruin it, idiot," Kurosaki muttered, his arms lowering with his hands still holding Hitsugaya's wrists.

"Ruin _what_?" Hitsugaya demanded, choosing not to try and pull himself free. It would just be a waste of time going in a pointless circle if he did.

"That's the idea," came the reply, as Kurosaki suddenly let go of Hitsugaya (who suddenly felt a twinge of irritation which he tried to ignore), the crunching of fresh snow underfoot now the only thing that allowed him to follow the human's movements. "Shut up and follow me."

The childish instinct to tell Kurosaki that he most certainly was not going to follow him anywhere, after he'd made him get up and go out blindfolded to somewhere that was probably uninteresting (where the hell were they going, anyway? He still hadn't asked), and then just not answering his question properly rose up, and he'd just opened his mouth to do so when he felt warmth and a rough hand closing over his own, pulling him forward into walking.

He closed his mouth, unsure of why this seemed to stun him into silence. Instead, he listened to the sounds of theirs and other human's footsteps across the snow-covered pavements, wondering just how ridiculous he looked at the moment and tried to comprehend his current inability to voice his opinion.

Hitsugaya was not particularly sure of a lot of things today, and he didn't even know why.

---

They hadn't been walking for very long when Kurosaki stopped, letting Hitsugaya's face collide rather painfully with his back (served him right for complaining the whole way, mumble grumble). He moved back immediately, scowling darkly -- but not looking very threatening -- under the blindfold.

"Watch where you're going--"

"I _can't_," Hitsugaya snorted, retrieving his hand from Kurosaki's now-slack grip and beginning to loosen the knot of the blindfold. This time there was no resistance and the material was easily pulled away, sliding down to rest in a loose knot around his neck. He blinked a few times, trying to get himself used to the fading light before his attention was taken by the sight in front of him.

"... Ah."

A setting sun's light filtered through swirls of grey, fiery shades of red and orange twisting away from the star and highlighting the underside of nearby clouds with strikes of yellow into blinding white. The sky leading away from the sun was a slightly darker shade of light blue than usual, dashes of dull violet streaking across and breaking up the colour. The snow was still falling gently, the light bouncing off of the ground and making the entire scene... glow. There didn't seem to be a better word to describe it.

It was, Hitsugaya admitted, rather beautiful. They didn't often see such a sunset in Seireitei (there weren't very many windows in his office).

He turned to face Kurosaki, who had his hands in his pockets and a rather thoughtful expression on his face. Noticing that he was watching from the corner of his eyes, Hitsugaya decided that this would probably be a good time to break the silence -- and with any luck, actually have one of his questions answered.

"... Was this for my birthday?"

Wrong question.

"What else would it possibly be for?" Kurosaki replied, shifting his weight from foot to foot and staring down at the ground. "I didn't think you'd want a present or something, so I went with this instead."

Hitsugaya resisted the urge to crack a smile; how... awkwardly teenager-like.

"I'd thank you, but I'm not entirely sure whether to thank you or the sky."

Sigh. "Shut up, you dork."

Hitsugaya wasn't sure why he wasn't resisting being pulled closer and having his fingers twined with a stupid loud orange-haired human's (and being called a 'dork' of all things), but he was definitely sure he wasn't blushing.

Hitsugaya Toshiro definitely did _not _do such awkward emotions.


End file.
